Visitors can already see the mountains on the second floor when they look out of the large window front. The Innovation Arch stands on the Upper Swabian plateau, the view is phenomenal, especially at the top, on the sixth floor. The interior is also spectacular up here, the walls on both sides are rounded, a future tenant of the office space can set up everything as needed. The tenant for this most exclusive area in the entire building should also fit in with the extensive space available. “I can’t imagine small offices on this floor,” says Jürgen Kolper, board member of Walter Beteiligungen und Immobilien AG, which built the innovation arch.
A sun rising from the ground is supposed to symbolize the building by the architect Hadi Teherani. To put it more mundanely, it is the new gateway to the Augsburg Innovation Park, an ecosystem of high-class research institutions and around 100 companies that represents the future of the working world in the Swabian metropolis, which is characterized by production like hardly anywhere else in Bavaria. The facade is made entirely of recycled aluminum, which is unique in the world. The roof is planted with 150 different grasses and herbs, there are 70 electric charging spaces, and the bicycle parking spaces in the underground car park are accessible via a dedicated ramp so that cyclists don’t get in the way of cars. The Innovation Arch is the new key building for Augsburg’s key area in order to maintain the competitiveness of the city and the region.
Augsburg has designated the Innovation Park as a special area of research and development. The Fraunhofer Institute is here, as is the German Aerospace Center. The companies benefit from the proximity to the university and thus to future employees. The high-end jobs are intended to “preserve the endangered competitiveness in production,” says Andreas Thiel, who, as managing director of Regio Augsburg Wirtschaft GmbH, is responsible for economic development in the Augsburg area. Here, with currently more than 2,000 and in the future up to 5,000 workers, the aim is to develop and research what will then be manufactured in the numerous manufacturing companies in Augsburg.
The 50 million euro building is 147 meters long and 34.5 meters wide; the roof terraces of the innovation arch, which are spread across the floors, alone measure 605 square meters. It was the draft, says Walter board member Kolper, that went furthest beyond the development plan, but which nevertheless immediately found the support of the city of Augsburg. A robotics start-up will move in, as will an international marketing agency that relies less on individual offices and more on open-plan workstations that employees can book in advance for the day. Theoretically, 40 square meters per employee are available here; the center of the more than 300 square meter work area is a green rotunda. The lawyers and tax advisors at Steidle & Partner on the fourth floor, on the other hand, need quiet for confidential conversations. “We have many small offices,” confirms partner Quirin Ullmann.
Jobs for the demanding next generation
From autumn onwards, the long-established Augsburg law firm will be moving into 1,500 square meters with 25 lawyers and tax consultants as well as 50 other employees, away from the city center and out to the outskirts of Augsburg, which is still well connected. According to Ullmann, the employees are looking forward to the move; for his law firm, the change of location is also insurance for the future. With office space in such a modern building, it is easier to convince good young talent to sign employment contracts. “You shouldn’t underestimate that,” says Ullmann, also with a view to sustainability, the photovoltaic modules and the facade made of recycled aluminum. “Such aspects will become increasingly important to the next generations.”
Walter calls the 130,000 square meters of space in the innovation park that the company is developing “Innovation Campus”. The Walter “Technology Campus” is located directly opposite the heart of the Innovation Arch, just across Mayor-Ulrich-Straße. Fujitsu used to have its headquarters here before it left Augsburg like so many other large companies. Now production is to take place right here on around 100,000 square meters in factory halls, which is being developed, among other things, over in the Innovation Park. The dividing lines are not quite as sharp: For example, the AI production network Augsburg is based here, which, as part of the Bavarian high-tech agenda, deals with how artificial intelligence can help keep the manufacturing industry in the Augsburg economic area competitive .
It shouldn’t be a coincidence who connects with whom in order to create something new, says Andreas Thiel from the regional economic development agency. “But we try to create the conditions to help chance.” In this respect, he is pleased about additional areas in the innovation arc where companies can settle. Like Jürgen Kolper, he speaks of the magnetic effect that is further strengthened by the new building: “The more innovative companies are here, the more will follow suit.”